Ron looked even more nervous than Harry, his misty breath billowing beneath the Invisibility Cloak.
Hermione, on the other hand, remained calm. Miss Know-It-All fixed the two useless boys with a stern stare until they covered their mouths, then all three huddled beneath the Invisibility Cloak and quietly lay down on the snowy slope, watching below.
In the forest clearing, Snape and the others seemed to be talking, but at a distance of a hundred feet, they could not make out the words.
That left Harry both relieved-they would not have to worry about anyone over there hearing them-and a little restless.
He lowered his voice. "Should we get a bit closer?"
Hermione rejected the suggestion. Frowning deeply, she whispered back, "We can't go any closer. Haven't you noticed?"
"What?"
"They're waiting for someone-" Hermione turned and gave Harry's brightly glowing head an odd look. "Why else do you think they'd come all this way just to stand here?"
"..."
Ron wisely asked no questions. The past two years had taught him that questioning Hermione's powers of observation usually only proved he was an idiot. The snow was cold, but Hermione's sarcasm was colder. Harry found himself missing the castle's warm fireplaces again.
He shook his head, shaking off his fanciful thoughts, and concentrated on listening, trying to hear what they were saying.
But perhaps there were too many trees around them, or the snow was too thick.
He could not make out anything.
He and Ron instinctively looked at Hermione.
And Hermione never let them down.
She drew her wand, murmured an incantation, and tapped each of their ears in turn.
Harry felt a sudden aching itch in his ears, followed by an abrupt buzzing, as though a torrent of deafening noise had poured into them and struck his